The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to embodiments of the claimed subject matter.
As modern electronics advance a variety of new use cases and implementations are entering the market place including the use of stretchable or flexible electronics for clothing and other wearable devices. This presents a serious problem for manufacturers of such electronics devices, clothing, and so called “wearables” given the simple fact that advanced electronics historically have been made to be ridged. “Wearables,” “wearable technology,” “fashionable technology,” “wearable devices,” “tech togs,” and “fashion electronics” are all in reference to a class of clothing, garments, and accessories which incorporate computer and advanced electronics technologies into “wearable” pieces, be they clothing or otherwise. Wearable devices such as activity trackers represent a part of the “Internet of Things” as they form part of the network of physical objects or “things” embedded with electronics, software, sensors and connectivity to enable objects to exchange data with a manufacturer, operator and/or other connected devices, without requiring human intervention.
While such wearables commonly have an aesthetic aspect to them, we discuss the functional and technological aspects of wearables herein.
Fundamentally, when a very rigid material such as an electronic device is connected to or integrated within a stretchable material, be it fabric or some other non-ridged materials, the components and circuitry of the electronic device are subjected to stretching. The boundary between the stretchable area and the rigid area of such wearables may therefore break or tear, thus damaging the electronics or the fabric, or as is often the case, damaging both.
The present state of the art may therefore benefit from the gradient encapsulant protection of devices in stretchable electronics as is described herein.